Columbus Monuments Pages

Christopher Columbus

Description

Statue of Columbus, standing with a globe in his left hand and calipers in his right hand. On his left is a small pedestal with a cross on the front, a globe on top and a bird on top of the globe.

Annotation

The Uplands neighborhood was developed in 1902 by the Briggs Real Estate Company. The statue was donated to this neighborhood by Briggs and it stood atop a large concrete pillar in the intersection of Columbia Terrace and Institute Place streets. The statue stood there until the late 1940's, when it was then considered a traffic hazard. It was moved to the end of Columbia Terrace and place in Laura Bradley Park which borders the neighborhood. Over the years, it started to deteriorate and was vandalized. It was removed sometime in the 1970's, and placed in storage. Money was raised for a restoration, and finally, in the early 1980's, it was restored. A new concrete pillar was erected similar to the original one in 1902, and in 1984, the statue was unveiled and rededicated. Sadly though, the pedestal and globe off to his side was lost in storage and a duplicate was not replicated.
The photograph Todd Schierer sent me shows the statue in it's original location in 1902. However, comparing it with the new photo it seems a complete different statue.